The
Father's Day bikie massacre of 1984 could become the
subject of a $9 million feature film starring Colin
Friels and Lisa Hensley.

Brothers
At War is based on the shoot-out between rival motorcycle
gangs the Comancheros and the Bandidos at a New South
Wales pub that left seven people dead and 21 injured.

Nine
bikies were convicted of murder, but the Court of
Criminal Appeal later quashed the murder convictions
and substituted verdicts of manslaughter.

Richard
Bradley, a film industry veteran, will make his feature
film directing debut on the project. He co-wrote the
script and also is one of the film's producers.

"There
are two key things that made me feel confident about
doing this film," said Bradley from his Sydney
office on Friday. "If you have a good screenplay
and a good cast, everything else will fall into place.
And we've got both."

But
what Bradley does not yet have is the money to make
the film. Although he has received about $50,000 in
government funding during the film's five-year development
period, Bradley has no intention of taking the traditional
route of seeking Film Finance Corporation money.

Instead,
he has issued a prospectus to the public, inviting
would-be producers to take a stake in the picture,
at $5000 a unit.

"To
get FFC funding, you need to have pre-sold foreign
distribution rights, and we didn't want to do that,"
Bradley said.

"This
is a really strong story, but a very local one. We
thought our best chance was to release it locally,
build its profile, then take it overseas."

According
to the 46-page prospectus document online at www.brothersatwar.com
a big advantage of this film is the strong public
awareness of the incident.

Colin
Friels confirmed on Friday that he has signed a letter
of intent to play Comancheros leader Jock Ross.

"I'd
love to be part of this film," Friels told The
Sunday Age.

"Will
it get made? Who knows? But from what I've seen, it
would be a tragedy if it didn't."

There
is one certainty, though. Should the film be made,
there will be two world premieres. Bradley said: "Would
I hold separate screenings for the Comancheros and
the Bandidos? Yes, I'd say so. That would be probably
be a good idea."